Behind closed doors of Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors

Hotstar Specials recently announced the next chapter of Criminal Justice titled Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors. Pankaj Tripathi is returning to portray the role of lawyer Madhav Mishra who is fighting the toughest case of his career. The prime accused, Anu Chandra, portrayed by Kirti Kulhari, has confessed to stabbing her husband, eminent lawyer Bikram Chandra and is guilty in the eyes of law. While many believe it to be an open-and-shut case, Anu’s subsequent silence and unwillingness to defend herself begs the question – is there more to the case than what meets the eye?

Produced by Applause Entertainment in association with BBC Studios, this eight-part courtroom drama series has been directed by Rohan Sippy, Arjun Mukerjee and written by Apurva Asrani and is set to launch on December 24 in seven languages on Disney+ Hotstar VIP.

Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors is one of the few stories in India to showcase the life and ordeal of women in prison. Revealing what went into making Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors,  Rohan Sippy and Arjun Mukerjee shared their experiences.

On continuing Madhav Mishra’s character played by Pankaj Tripathi, Sippy said, “I think the cast is perfect. One of the great creative decisions was to continue the character that Pankaj Tripathi is playing which is not the case in the original British show. But here, we decided to continue that, and I think it’s one of the strengths of the show to have him at the heart of it.”

Speaking to real-life lawyers for research, Sippy added, “The research was done speaking to lawyers – both before we set out to write the show and even once we had started writing. Dialogues were also run by lawyers to make sure that we get the nuances right and also explore the legal side so we can maximise the drama in the show. This was also very important because the original show was set in the British legal system which had a jury and that had to be changed a lot because we don’t have that system here, so that was a very challenging part of the process which Apurva and the creative team handled well.”

Recreating women’s prison on screen, Mukerjee said, “Designing the prison set was a little difficult because it is almost impossible to get references and actual footage or shots of a prison. So, some of the production crew members went to a women’s prison and tried to get in some areas, spoke to the warden, etc. It was a difficult job and our team did really well to create a very atmospheric and large space for us to work in. The realness of the prison also helped me and Rohan, and obviously the actors, to get into the skin of the role, feel the atmosphere and the darkness in the hard conditions, so that was fun.”